Some grinches shut down a portion of a Sacramento’s light-rail line for 12 hours on Christmas Eve by stealing copper wire from track joints. Talk about crooks stealing from the public to make a few bucks.

Trains couldn’t travel on the Gold Line between Hazel Avenue and Mather Field stations until nearly 6 p.m that night when Sacramento Regional Transit crews finished repairs. During the outage, buses ferried train riders between the two stations.

Ouch. Public transit agencies are having enough problems these days with state lawmakers diverting funds away from transit to solve the state’s budget problems.

Sacramento News Station 10 reported that one train passenger quipped, “It’s Christmas time, and I guess that’s what people do when they’re broke.”